Distimo takes a close look at four fast-emerging mobile app economies

The Next Web got an exclusive first look at the latest report from mobile app store analytics company Distimo, in which it takes a detailed look at four fast-growing emerging markets outside of East Asia (which is also still booming, thank you for asking): Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey.

The company analyzed the overall mobile app market in the top 30 countries over the course of a year in terms of revenue, and identified those four countries as particularly fascinating. Annual growth rates in those emerging markets range between 54 percent and 115 percent, Distimo claims.

The growth in app revenue in Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey since September 2011 ranges between 76 percent and 91 percent in the Apple App Store for iPad.

For Russia, the growth in revenue in Google Play (formerly Android Market) is a whopping 250 percent – more than twice the growth rate of the United States.

Unsurprisingly, Distimo urges all developers building mobile applications for multiple markets to take its report about the fast and continued growth of the app economies in Brazil, Mexico, Russia and Turkey into account.

The US, by the way, ranks as the thirteenth fastest-growing country at 44 percent.

Combined, the top 200 top-grossing apps in the Apple App Store for iPhone specifically generated $160,000 per day in Brazil, Mexico, Russia and Turkey during May 2012.

Looking at the difference between the purchase of apps and the download figures for free apps, apparently paid apps are not popular in Turkey. Distimo data shows that only 2 paid apps are downloaded for every 100 downloaded free apps, compared to 6 in Mexico.

Distimo notes that since games became available in the Apple App Store for iPhone in Brazil back in April 2012, the revenues increased by more than 80 percent in a single month, catapulting Brazil to the position of largest app market in Latin America. Mexico is the second largest market in Latin America in terms of revenue.

According to Distimo, in-app purchases have become the main source of income for many developers over the course of the past year.

In the US, 66 percent of the revenue from top 200 top-grossing apps is generated by free apps with in-app purchases (freemium apps), and only 13 percent by paid applications that don’t have any in-app purchases.

Freemium apps generate more than 50 percent of the revenue of the top-grossing apps in Russia and Turkey as well, but appear to be less popular in the two Latin American growth markets, Brazil and Mexico.

When publishing an app in countries outside the US, it is important to remember that consumers like to use apps that are available in their own language, as the graph below shows.

It shows the proportion of revenue generated by applications in the main local language of that country in the Apple App Store for iPhone.

For example, in Russia more than 70 percent of the revenue is generated by applications in Russian.